Bobby Samaria (born 21 February 1970) is a Namibian

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

manager and former player.

Playing career

Born in

Grootfontein Grootfontein (, named after the nearby hot springs) is a city with 26,839 inhabitants in the Otjozondjupa Region of central Namibia. It is one of the three towns in the Otavi Triangle, situated on the B8 road (Namibia), B8 national road that lead ...

, Samaria began his career in the youth ranks of

Chief Santos Chief Santos is a football club in Tsumeb, Namibia. The club was formerly part of the Namibia Premier League, but was relegated to the second league in 2005. The club has been promoted back to the Premier League under the management of Mohammed ...

. At the age of 17, Samaria made his senior footballing debut for

Eleven Arrows Eleven Arrows is a Namibian professional football club based in Walvis Bay. Founded in 1961, the club competes in country's highest division, the Namibia Premier League. Achievements *Namibia Premier League: 1 ::1991 * NFA-Cup: 1 ::2011 Perform ...

. After four years at Eleven Arrows, Samaria joined

Windhoek Windhoek (; ; ) is the capital and largest city of Namibia. It is located in central Namibia in the Khomas Highland plateau area, at around above sea level, almost exactly at the country's geographical centre. The population of Windhoek, which ...

-based side

Black Africa Sub-Saharan Africa is the area and regions of the continent of Africa that lie south of the Sahara. These include Central Africa, East Africa, Southern Africa, and West Africa. Geopolitically, in addition to the list of sovereign states and ...

, winning the Player of the Year award in 1993. Internationally, Samaria made eleven appearances for

Namibia Namibia, officially the Republic of Namibia, is a country on the west coast of Southern Africa. Its borders include the Atlantic Ocean to the west, Angola and Zambia to the north, Botswana to the east and South Africa to the south; in the no ...

, scoring once in a 2–1 win against

Malawi Malawi, officially the Republic of Malawi, is a landlocked country in Southeastern Africa. It is bordered by Zambia to the west, Tanzania to the north and northeast, and Mozambique to the east, south, and southwest. Malawi spans over and ...

on 1 August 1998.

Managerial career

Following his retirement from football, Samaria took up the managerial role at former club Black Africa. On 27 February 2006, Samaria resigned from the club, whilst still managing the Namibia under-20 side. In 2008, Samaria was appointed manager of

African Stars The African Stars Football Club are a professional football in Namibia, Namibian football club from Windhoek. They play in the country's highest division, the Namibia Premiership. Achievements *Namibia Premiership **Champions (3): 2022–23 Nami ...

. Samaria helped African Stars to win the 2008–09 and 2009–10 editions of the

Namibia Premier League The Namibia Premier League (NPL) was the highest level of domestic association football in Namibia until it was disbanded following the 2018-19 season. The league was established in 1990 and was trimmed to 12 teams from the traditional 16 in 2005 ...

, as well as the 2010

Namibia FA Cup The Namibia FA Cup (''Namibia Football Association Cup''), officially Bidvest Namibia Cup, is an association football tournament for Namibian club The competition was relaunched in 2024, following a number of years of inactivity due to the unavail ...

. In 2012, Samaria joined

United Africa Tigers The Tigers FC are a Namibian football club. They are based in the Namibian capital Windhoek, and play in the country's top league, the Namibia Premier Football League. In the 1990s, they were sponsored by Mukorob Pelagic and referred to as the ...

, winning the Namibia Super Cup, before returning to African Stars in 2015. In 2018, African Stars achieved the double of the Namibia Premier League and Namibia Super Cup. At the end of the 2018–19 season, Samaria left the club, with former Namibian international

Robert Nauseb Robert Cosmo Nauseb (born 23 August 1974) is a Namibian former professional footballer who played as a midfielder. Club career Nicknamed ''Baggio'', Nauseb was born in Otjiwarongo. He played a large part of his career for one of South Africa's b ...

replacing him. In December 2018, following Nauseb's sacking, Samaria was re-appointed by African Stars. In 2019, Samaria was appointed by Namibia to manage the country during the

2020 African Nations Championship qualification The 2020 African Nations Championship qualification was a men's football competition which decided the participating teams of the 2020 African Nations Championship. Only national team players who were playing in their country's own domestic leagu ...

Career statistics

:''Score and result list Namibia's goal tally first, score column indicates score after Samaria goal.''

References

Living people 1970 births Namibian men's footballers Men's association football midfielders Namibia men's international footballers Eleven Arrows F.C. players Black Africa S.C. players Namibian football managers Namibia national football team managers Sportspeople from Otjozondjupa Region {{Malawi-footy-bio-stub